Charlotte Rains Dixon

Telling Not Selling

I have my wonderful friend Candace White to thank for this. (All you writers, artists and self-employed folks who have been frustrated in the past about getting insurance ought to call Candace. She’ll call you “y’all” and offer you vodka and make you tortilla soup and coconut cake and when all the important stuff is done than you might get to talking about insurance.)

Candace and I were talking about writing today and Candace, saleswoman extraordinaire, told me about a “thing” they always say in selling. She had previously told me a “thing” they say in sales about rejection that was pretty good (you wallow in it for five minutes, then say, “next!” and move on) so I was all ears.

Here it is:

If you are telling, you are not selling.

Pretty good, huh? Candace’s point was that this “thing” is exactly the same in writing. If you are telling the story, you are not selling it to the reader in terms of emotional involvement. It is remarkably similar to “show, don’t tell.” If you are showing, you are selling the reader. If you are telling, odds are good that you are not.

I’m currently finishing a book by Juliana Baggott and I’m about 50 pages from the end. I’ve been enjoying the novel all along, but I have to tell you–I’m getting a little frustrating because now it feels like everything is telling. She’s not selling it to me, folks, and it is only because I am at the end that I am still reading.

So, remember, if you are telling, you are not selling.

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About Charlotte Rains dixon

Charlotte Rains Dixon mentors creative writers from passionate to published. Charlotte is a free-lance journalist, ghostwriter, and author. She is Director Emeritus and a current mentor at the Writer's Loft, a certificate-writing program at Middle Tennessee State University. She earned her MFA in creative writing from Spalding University and is the author of a dozen books, including The Complete Guide to Writing Successful Fundraising Letters, and Beautiful America’s Oregon Coast. Her fiction has appeared in The Trunk, Santa Fe Writer’s Project, Nameless Grace, and Somerset Studios and her articles have been published in Vogue Knitting, the Oregonian, and Pology, to name a few. Her novel, Emma Jean’s Bad Behavior, was published in 2013, and she is represented by Erin Niumata at Folio Literary. Learn about her annual writing workshops in Europe at letsgowrite.com, and visit her blog at www.charlotterainsdixon.com, where you can find all kinds of tips and techniques on writing and creativity.